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THE LIBRARY §f 

CONGRESS 
ScRlA‘ HtViOPO 


MAY 2 6 1945 

(AW —. 

G*VT. SOURCE 



Statements By 
United States Servicemen 
about 

Americans of Japanese Descent 







DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

lA.S.WAR relocation authority 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 


^5 7 






J 


7/X 







I 



o A P 


Y « 

FROM A VETERAN OF GUADALCANAL 
PUBLISHED IN TIME, DECEMBER 20, 


1943 


Recovering from malaria in a California Marine camp. 
22-year-old Marine Pfc. Robert E. Borchers of Chicago one 
night wrote a letter to the American Legion: 


"I am one of the fortunate Marines who have recently 
returned to this country after serving in the offensive 
against the Japanese on Guadalcanal... We find...a condition 
oshind our backs that stuns us. We find that our America 
c: .izens, those of Japanese ancestry, are being persec* 
yes, persecuted as though Adolph Hitler hitfself w r 
charge. 


"... I'm putting it mildly when I say it makes our bl 
boil... We shall fight this injustice, intolerance an' ; 
Americanism at home! We will not break faith with thorn 
died... We have fought the Japanese and are recuperate 
fight again. We can endure the hell of battle, but w? 
resolved not to be sold out at home." 


FROM MARCH FIELD, CALIFORNIA 
PUBLISHED IN TIME, JANUARY 10, 1944 

Si rs: 


Pfc. Raymond (actually Robert) Borcher's letter and your 
story " In nu i si t ion in Los Angeles" (Time, Dec. 20) point j- 
one of the things that has been worrying me as I • get - ea .• 
to take a trip. 

I think I have a right to expect that the fundamental 
human rights which are held up as a banner for us now ar 
still in existence when I get Pack. The emotional, hatefu 
racial prejudice shown by certain Californians against any 
one with yellow skin who can be called "Jap" certainly heln 
tear down the Constitution of our country not only for Ley 
Americans of Japanese descent, but for all loyal Americans 

If California succeeds in passing a law excluding all 
persons of Japanese descent, there is nothing which would 

i . 

C- 1775-PI oi 21-bu-c. os to 


- 2 - 


stop any'state from passing a law excluding all New Yorkers 
who wear glasses (like me) or all Baptists with Swedish 
names... 

They say many of us don’t know what we’re fighting for 
now; you keep up the good work and we T U know right well what 
we have to fight for, and against, whan we get back. 

WADSWORTH LIKELY, 

Sergean t 

FROM * SOMEWHERE IN ITALY ” 

PUBLISHED IN TIME, JULY 3, 1944 

Si rs: 


It is two years and a couple of days since I left the 
States with a whole hatful of company on the war’s leeching 
business. During the ten-minute breaks in Africa and Italy 
we have devoted a lot of effort to trying to realize in the 
imagination what life is like at home. 

Today a magazine (Time, April 24) comes to the beach¬ 
head and...tells a story, and these pleasant images become 
hideous and confused. According to the story five JaDanese, 
including one Frank Kitagawa, are sent to Great Meadows, 
N.J., from an Arizona relocation center to help Ed Kowalick 
run his ^OG-acre farm.... Ed Kowalick*s neighbors mount a 
blind patriotism against this five-man Oriental menace within 
their gates. A building on Kowal ick’s farm is burned; and 
Ko^alick, being one man, is forced to send the offenders 

a way. This is, as I said, a little thing. Nobody killed, 

nobody maimed. To show they hold no hard feelings, the 

farmers present Ed Kowal ick with a box of cigars, and the 

incident is closed.... 

It is the schoolhouse, I think, that sticks in my craw. 
Presumably the small fry of Great Meadows are taught in this 
schoolhouse: study algebra; and Archimides principle; and 

nouns; and learn that Lincoln called them "the last best hope 
of earth..." This is the schoolhouse where hundreds met to 
hunt down five, who had committed the crime of discarding 
their ancestry for the ties of a new country. 

r- 177 5- p 2 -^u- 


■- 3 - 

There are crosses with Japanese names in the American 
cemeteries »n the bitter Italian hills. These men are worthy 
to bear arms; how then are they not worthy to grow tomatoes? 

oince i began, a score of shells have dropped into the 
vicinity. Ihey threaten my site, for which I have a high 
regard, but not the things that give my life sustenance. 
Now 1 feel that these things are threatened and I do not know 
where to go to ^ind a c = ean picture of my country. It is not 
the matter of Great Meadows alone. Lord knows, that is only 
the latest and one of the least striking of the items on a 
long list. Somewhere in the confusion is the central matter 
of what is true and what is not true about our national life. 

This is a very personal matter, I ike love or good beer 
or dying, and I should like someone to give me the answer. 

THOMAS RIGGS, Jr. 

2nd Lieutenant 


FROM "SOMEWHERE IN BURMA’’ 

A LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE PACIFIC CITIZEN 
Dear Si r: 

Recently in the Red Cross recreation room I chanced to 
come across an issue of your paper. I thought the paper was 
very good and the boys here seem to think the same—they sug¬ 
gested that it be distributed more widely. 

I noted that most of the articles concerned the Japanese 
Americans fighting in the European theatre and the grand job 
they are doing. We, of the Merrill’s Marauders (or otherwise 
known as the Burma Raiders) wish to boast of the Japanese 
Americans fighting in our outfit and the swell job that they 
put up. Every Marauder knows these boys by name even if they 
don't know ours — this is due to the courage and bravery shown 
by them. One of our platoons owe their lives to Sgt. Hank 
Gosho who translated Jap orders which were foolishly yelled 
to the effect that they were attempting a flanking movement. 
Hank---(we call him Horizontal Hank because he's been pinned 

down so many times by Jao machine gun fire)-guided the 

machine gun fire on our side which killed every Jap on that 


C- 1775-P3-bu- 


-in¬ 


side, The boys who fought along side of Hank agree that they 
have never seen a more calm, cool and collected man under 
fire—he was always so eager to be where he could be of the 
most use and effectiveness and that was always the hot spot. 
We asked Hank in the hospital, being his first time in 
battle, if he was scared or not. He answered, "You’ re darn 
rights I was scared...." That’s Horizontal Hank all over, 
always humorous and a smile for every guy. And yet, while 
the other boys boast of the number of Japs they got, he does- 
n’t talk ver.y much about the three he has to his own account; 
he usually changes the subject by saying. "Honorable ances- 
tors much regret meeting Merrill’s Marauders." 

I hope I haven’t given the impression that I’m trying to 
glorify him. Many of the boys, and myself especially, never 
knew a Japanese American or what one was like—now we know 
and the Marauders want you to know that they are backing the 
Nisei 100%. It makes the boys and myself raging mad to read 
about movements against Japanese Americans by those M-F'ers 
back home. We would dare them to say things like they have 
in front of us. 

At one time during battle our platoon was assigned to 
the Chinese; Sgt. Gosho was always surrounded by the Chinese 
who insisted that he was Chinese and not Japanese. Many a 
humorous tale is told by Horizontal Hank on that point; the 
boys then just step in and pointing to him say, "He’s an 
AMERICAN." And no truer words were ever spoken. 

Yours truly, 

GEORGE MILLER , • 

. Sergeant 

FROM “SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC“ 

Dear Mrs, T * . . . 

’ 

...My first eleven years of public school were spent in 
Auburn, (Washington) Kent’s rival city. Some of my best 
friends were Japanese. I wouldn’t be surprised if some were 
fighting now in Italy. The only fault I found with them was 
that they studied so industriously that they put many of us 
to shame and often finished school with highest honors. 


C- 1775-P4-tu- 


b 


Of course, there were and are unpatriotic Japanese. 
These are criminals and should be treated as such. As such 
they have been singled out by the F. B. I. There also were 
and are pro-Axis white people in America, even in Los 

Angeles.... They, too, have been placed under surveillance 
by Hoover’s men when apprehended. 

I wonder how the two totals would tally up. Yet no one 
is advocating the denial of constitutional rights to the 
white ci ti zen ry--l egal ly--. At least we haven't heard of it. 
--If they are,by the iiving God that made us, there'll be 
blood on the moon when we come back. 

Yours sincerely, 

ROBERT A SMITH 

Lieutenant, U. S. Marine Corns 


FROM “SOMEWHERE IN ITALY” 

EXTRACT FROM LETTER, SIGNED JOE FROMM, PUBLISHED IN THE 
CHICAGO SUN, SEPT. 10, 1944 

"Similarly disturbing to overseas soldiers--especially 
those who are liberal and to 1erant--a re the growing race 
hatreds at home. When my outfit moved over to Cassino from 
the Adriatic in Italy several months ago, I read in American 
maqazines and newspapers letters condemning all Japanese, 
regardless of birth, in the most bitter, intolerant and un- 
American manner. Japanese Americans were the target of the 
most vile attacks and discrimination. You can imagine my 
feelings and the feelinqs of my comrades, then, when we heard 
that the unit which we were relieving at Cassino was the 
famous 100th Battalion, consisting exclusively of Japanese 
Americans. You can well imagine whet we thought of this 
bigoted group in the United States which was seeking to make 
life unbearable for the parents and families of these men 
who, we learned, protested their withdrawal from Cassino 
although they had been decimated by wounds and disease. This 
battalion of Japanese Americans since has been proclaimed the 
most decorated unit in the American Army and the battalion 
with the heaviest casualties." 


r- 1775-Po-Pu 


6 


FROM A RECIPIENT OF THE CONGRESSIONAL , MEDAL OF HONOR 
PI El ISh'ED IN THE PACIFIC CITIZEN, JULY 1, 19*4 

Des Moines, Iowa. Sergt. Charles (Commando) Kelly, 
winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism in 
Italy, said here this week that the Japanese American Battal¬ 
ion of the 34th Division has a reputation for being a top- 
notch outfit. 

"They’ve taken a lot, just like all outfits in Italy," 
Kelly said. "But they have a reputation among other U. S. 
divisions of being a tough battalion. Everybody likes them. 


FROM “SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC" 

PUBLISHED IN PM, NEW YORK, MAY 4, 1944 

Dear Ed i to r: 

I have just finished reading Harold Lavine’s article on 
West Coast prejudice against Japanese-Americans in the 
Jan. 21 i ssue of PM. 

I have had constant dealings with Japanese-American boys 
serving in our-Army. When I first arrived in this theater of 
operations, I was an enlisted man and I shared a tent with 
one of these boys. There were a number of other Jaoanese- 
Americans in the comoany and there wasn't a single man in 
that outfit who didn't like and respect these boys. They are 
all courageous, sincere, loyal and swell fellows. 

At my present station where I am serving with,a Marine 
unit, we have a group of these Japanese-Ameri can boys. They 
are, like the previous group I mentioned, good Americans and 
wel1 1 iked. 

If there are any groups of Americans who have reason to 
hate and distrust Japs, they'are the Marine and Army units 
who have been in combat with them. Yet, all of these Marines 
and Army boys will swear by the integrity and loyalty of the 
Japanese-American soldiers. 


C-1775-P6-bu- 


- 7 - 

Many of these boys have parents and sisters and brothers 
in relocation centers. They are there not because they are¬ 
n’t loyal Americans, but because the Government has seen fit 
to nut them there as purely precautionary measures. Though 
they are not happy about it, the Japanese-American soldiers 
understand and appreciate the necessity for such action under 
the ci rcumstances. 

My own sentiments and that of others with whom I have 
discussed Mr, Lavine’s article are that Jaoanese-Ameri cans 
should have the same rights guaranteed to them as are guar¬ 
anteed to any other Americans--the right to life, liberty and 
the pursuit of happiness. 

I would like to see jailed and convicted for making 
murderous threats the members of those organizations who 
wrote District Attorney Houser of Los Angeles County that 
they have "pledged to kill any Japanese who come to Califor¬ 
nia now or after the war." 

MORRIS KRIT2 
2nd Lieutenant 


FROM CAMP CARSON, COLORADO 
PUBLISHED IN TIME, FEB. 14, 1944 

Si rs: 

We are just back from overseas where we were trying to 
preserve democracy for the very same people who say the Nisei 
should be deported. 

I was bodyguard to an American of Japanese descent who 
was risking his life to act as an interpreter for us. He was 
a target for both Jap and American bullets.... 

I wish to God that some of the people at home who say: 
"Democracy is for the white race only" could be made to go 
out and fight for it. 

SERVICEMAN’S NAME WITHHELD. 


C-1775-P7-bu 


8 


FROM A VETERAN OF THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN 
PUBLISHED IN TIME, FEB. 14, 1944 


Moore General Hospital, 
Swannanoa, N. C. 

S i rs:. 

There are a lot of people in these United States who 
have nothing but a one-track mind. In some of the articles 
of your Letters to the Editors (Time, Jan. 17) I saw some of 
these people in (a) true light. 

I just came from Italy where I was assigned to the 
Japanese 100th Infantry Battalion. I never in my life saw 
any more of a true American than they are. To these people 

S . < '• 

who don’t have any military rank, orobably don’t even know 
that these little "y el low- bel 1 i es" (as one writer wrote) are 
saving his skin: I only wish that these people could witness 
these little "yellow-bellies" fight. 

Ask anyone who has seen them in action against the Jerry 
(to) tell you about them. They’ll tell you when they have 
them on their flanks they are sure of security in that 
section.... 

They, my friends, are not the little "yellow-bellies"; 
you are. 

E. D. CHASSE, 

2nd Lieutenant 


FROM A VETERAN OF GUADALCANAL 

PUBLISHED IN THE DAILY CALIFORNIAN, FEB. 10, 1944 

Statements made by Marine Private Terrell Tennant, 
Guadalcanal veteran, after an interview with Sgt. Ben Ku rok i 
at the University of California at Berkeley, February 9, 
1944 . 

"The thing that I felt and that a lot of the boys feel 
when they come back from the Pacific area is disgust at the 
attitude of the man on the street. He assumes that he knows 
what we are thinking and feeling. He tells us that because 


1775-P8-b»- 


- 9 - 

we have been taught to hate the Japanese we are fighting, wp 
naturally will hate every Japanese...."That assumption is 
erroneous.. .. Cf course there are exceptions, but often a 
feeling of having been let down arises when we come back home 
and find that the things we are fighting against over there 
are believed and expounded in our own country...."Sergeant 
Kuroki is doing a great job. He is fighting both the battles 
in which we are engaged and so are thous-ands of other Japa¬ 
nese-Arne ri can s. The man on the street owes them a debt--a 
debt that could be partially paid by honest acceptance of 
them and their families. 11 


FROM “ SOMEWHERE IN ITALY ” 

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY LIEUT. MARSHALL HAINES TO 
VERNON McCANN OF THE AUBURN (CALIF. ) JOURNAL, PUBLISHED IN 
THE PACIFIC CITIZEN, SEPT. 9, 1944. 

"...The liaison officers from my battalion say that this 
Japanese American infantry outfit is the best damn infantry 
they have ever worked with.... 

"See where there is a lot of controversy about the 
Japanese returning to California. Also that proper respect 
has not been shown the Japanese American soldier. Things 

like that sure go against the grain with me.... 

' ' ' 1 

"We had been sitting and living in foxholes at Anzio 
some 63 days. Then the big push out and the capture of Rome. 
Thfey (the JajDanese-Ameri can infantrymen) wiped out the last 
heavy German resistance we met some i 2 miles south of Rome 
and then it was practically a walk into the city. 

") know that all of the combat men here in Italy think 
the world of the Japanese American soldiers. Their record 
is so outstanding that they have recently been awarded a 
Presidential citation. 

"They have never failed to take an objective since i 
have been fighting with them. They have shown as much 
bravery as the American doughboy, and in some cases more. I 
have never heard them speak the Japanese language at any 

time." 


C-1775-^9-bu- 






- 1C - 

0 

Haines, a former employee of the Auburn post office, 
wrote that people who show disresDect to any fighting soldier 
makes a soldier think: "Am I fighting that someone of that 
type can have a free country?" 


FROM A VETERAN OF THE ALEUTIAN CAMPAIGN 
PUBLISHED IN THE SACRAMENTO (CALIF.) BEE , 

JAN. 14 , 1944 

Dear Si r: 

It was with quite a bit of concern that I read the 
December 20th issue of Time and noted therein an article 
describing witch hunts against loyal Americans of Japanese 
ancestry.... TIME quotes...as stating: "We have been told 
it would be unhealthy for Japanese--even American-born — to 
be seen on California streets, and that returning Marines and 
soldiers would slit their throats."... 

I believe I can express the attitude of the soldiers who 
have met the Japanese in combat. I was with the men who 
froze under fire for 21 days on the bleak snow-covered slopes 
of Attu. There we saw our best friends killed in a maniacal 
demonstration of Japanese fanaticism. No one can accuse us 
of being soft hearted toward the Japanese. The demands of 
battle develop an impersonal outlook on the subject of death 
to an enemy. 

On the other hand battle gives one a balance of outlook, 
which from the Time account, is entirely lacking in certain 
Japanese baiting circles. We have gone into battle with 
loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry and they have acquitted 
themselves with honor and glory. Imagine the risk sucn a man 
takes when he volunteers and joins the army. Not only must 
he be careful of enemy fire, but he must take caution that 
he is not mistaken by his own troops as an enemy. We 
soldiers glory in the fact that these Japanese boys are with 
us giving their full measure of devotion, while their 
brothers and sisters, in some instances, are in relocation 
camps. 


1775-PlO-bu- 


- ii - 

Have no fear that returning soldiers would desire to 
slit the throats of loyal Japanese at home. Such a threat is 
only for those who do not know; for those whose courage has 
not been tested and seek refuge in pompous phrases. 

* 

It is not the returning soldier who will wish to torment 
and hound the loyal Ameri can-Japanese. We; 11 do our fighting 
on the battlefields against our country’s enemies, and not 
on the s t ree ts at home against our cou n t ry ’ s f r i en d s. 

If there is a problem with disloyal Japanese at home 
(and from all accounts in The Bee, there is), auietly take 
the necessary steps and nuel1 them and oust any incompetent 
administrators. But leave the United States the kind of a 
place we are fighting to keep it. Go after the disloyal 
Japanese; ...but do it the American way.... 

RALPH T. LUI, 

Captain, U. S. Army 


FTOM “SOMEWHERE IN THE PACIFIC ” 

PUBLISHED IN IRE STAR - BULLETIN , HONOLULU, T. R . 

To the Editor: 

Never before have I taken a pen in hand and written to 
a newspaper editor but "there comes a time in every man’s 
life," ! suppose. I have been watching with growing disgust 
the efforts of some misguided politicians in California to 
create an issue out of the Japanese-American problem. I see, 
now, where the same poisonous thinking is spreading tc 
Colo rado.... 

Do the newspapers of California or Colorado print the 
casualty lists of the Japanese-Americans killed or wounded 
from the city of Honolulu, alone? I think some people would 
be dumbfounded if they saw those lists every day, as we do, 
here. I don't know how the population of Honolulu compares 
with Denver or Los Angeles (the city of Angels), but i would 
bet that Honolulu suffers more casualties among its Japanese- 
Amerieans than those two mainland cities do in their whole 
popu 1 at i ons. 


C- 1775-Pll-fc'J- 


12 


I can see what the J apan ese-Ame r i can s in our armnri 
forces are fighting and dying for. They are not only fight¬ 
ing for America but they are fighting for the right of their 
families to live side by side with the more fortunate races 
that have made our nation the great nation it is today. They 
are fighting for tolerance. They are fighting to prove they 
and their families had nothing to do with December 7, 1941, 

They had no axe to grind and a lot of them are giving 
their lives to prove it. Probably their last thoughts, as 
they fall mortally wounded, far from their homes in Hawaii, 
are, "Well, perhaps this will prove we are Americans." 

I wonder what the more fortunate ones think as they 
read the newspapers in some hospital in Africa or Italy. 

I speak onTy for myseTf as I write this letter. I don’t 
know what my fellow soldiers think on the subject, as I have 
never brought the subject into open discussion, but knowing 
my fellow soldiers as I do, I think they would certainly be 
against those hair-brained schemes of radicals who have 
nothing better to do during this war than to sit around 
thinking of ways and means of persecuting a minority. 

I know that immediately this letter is published, if it 
should be, that loyal sons and daughter of California and 
Colorado will want to jump on me with both feet. I know what 
their argument will be, "Why judge the whole state by what 
a few nitwits do and say?" 

I understand that argument, perfectly, because it is my 
argument, too. Why judge a whole race of people and refuse 
them the right to return to their homes in the western states 
after the war just because of what a disloyal, small minority 
of their race has done? No one in this war is persecuting 
the German-Arner i cans and I talo-Amer i cans, and there is no 
reason in the world why they should, so why impose a penalty, 
after the war, upon the Japanese-Ameri cans? 

When I meet a Japanese-American on the street in the 
same uniform as my own, I know he is fighting two wars, our 
war and his own private war for his people against public 
opinion and racial discrimination. I am sorely tempted to 
salute him and say, “Thou art a better man than I am, Gunga 
Din." 


C- 1775-Pl2~*>u- 


13 


I am enclosing a clioping from my home town n aper, 
proving that all states are not alike, some extend a helping 
hand to a ■fellow American who is down. 

(Note: The clipping is from the Peoria (111.) Star. 
It relates Peoria employers are offering jobs to Japanese 

Americans.) 

I am not of Japanese blood but I would be proud to have 
a transfusion from one of those boys on the Italian front. 

DUDLEY C. RUISH, 

Pfc. USA 

FROM ••SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND ” 

A LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE LAMAR (COLO.) 

DAILY NEWS 

Dear Si r: 

In England the thousands of Yanks who are "sweating out" 
their own individual D-Day now very seldom express belief in 
the opinion that "this time is the, last time." The crafty 
deceit and hypocrisy of certain highly placed spokesmen for 
all nations of earth have impeded the progress of the great 
ideals expressed in the Atlantic Charter to such an extent 
that our hope has been reduced to the fervent wish that the 
seeds of the next war which are already being thickly sown 
will take several decades to bear their evil fruit. 

Meanwhile many of us learn with despair and wrath that 
racism without justice, mercy or logic which invites whole 
races of men according to the racial descent and prejudices 
of the loud-mouthed adherents of this evil doctrine is as¬ 
suming menacing proportions at home. All that is lacking is 
incorporation of this spirit into the political program of 
our two major parties for America to begin the maelstrom 

which has engulfed Germany. 

To get down to cases--by what rule of logic is a loyal 
American of Japanese ancestry placed on a moral level with 
the executioners of Allied prisoners and airmen in Japan and 
looked upon as creatures or things NOT endowed by the Creator 
with the inalienable rights of human beings and citizens of 
the United States? 


C- 1775-Pl3-bu- 


- 14 - 


"He is a JapJ" is the angry reply of the bigot and mod¬ 
ern counterpart on racial lines of the religious inquisitors 
of an age that was marked by rel igious wars but much better 
united than we in the idea that all races belong to the human 
fami1y. 


At this noint ! am reminded of an American infantry 
regiment which in its days of training had great things pre¬ 
dicted for it by Carl Sandburg--a man of good will—and which 
a little later in the invasion of Italy distinguished itself 
in action. 


Why don't our American racists demand the internment of 
all Japanese-Ameri cans in un i fo nr?. -Or rather the extinction 
of the entire race as something by nature evil and sub¬ 
human?. 

And why don't they apply the same rule to all Americans 
of German descent which would include General Eisenhower and 
Willkie? The Gestapo has been as ruthless in its treatment 
of Poles and Russians as the Jaoanese in China. 


Hypocrites--They dare not be logical even in their own 
perversion. They know that if this rule of the mob were 
generally established the next war with its many nol itical 
changes and new alignments would place some of their ances¬ 
tral countries behind enemy lines. The names of these 
American racists very often tell their ancestry. 

Every sane man and woman in America has, by reason of 
the fact that the Creator bestowed upon humanity the exclu¬ 
sive gifts of reason and free will; the chance to become a 
model citizen of our free republic. 

The fountains of peace will never be laid by any but 
men of good will.... 

Sincerely, 

JAMES CORNING 

Lieutenant 


C-1775-P‘ 4 -bu- 


S 5 - 


FROM A VETERAN OF GUADALCANAL 
PUBLISHED IN TIME, DEC. 27, 1943 

Si rs: 

As a U. S. Marine, I am not in the habit of begging 
anyone for anything, but there is one thing I will beg for. 

I beg my fellow citizens to give the loyal Japanese Americans 
their God-given right to life, liberty, and pursuit of hap¬ 
piness that, I sincerely hope, is guaranteed by our Consti¬ 
tution. 

Llanded on Guadalcanal in August 1942, and have as much 
dislike for Jaoanese militarism as anyone, but please, let’s 
give these fellows a chance. How about it, Americans? 

SERVICEMAN’S NAME WITHHELD 


FROM u SOMEWHERE IN THE PACIFIC ” 

Dear Mrs. T : 

I have worked with Americans of Japanese ancestry'at 
home and in battle here in the Pacific, and they are indeed 
doing a wonderful job. Out here where the w^r is right in 
front the prejudices that one hears so much about are absent. 
It makes a fellow feel pretty bad to see some people at home 
trying to destroy the very thing that we are fighting to 

mai n tai n. 

I only wish there was some way to make the voices of the 
fellows out here heard.... 

Very s i ncerel y you rs, 

GLENN ABBOTT 
Staff Sergeant 
U. S. Marine Corps 


c-1775-Pl 5 -bu 


16 


FROM “SOMEWHERE IF THE HAWAIIAN ISLARDS" 

Dear Assemblyman.... 

...Before I continue, i want to let you know that I am 
an American-Chinese, born in California, educated in Califor¬ 
nia schools and firmly believe in American institutions. 

I have been in the Army nearly three years. I was in 
the Battle of Attu and am now somewhere in the Hawaiian 
I si ands. 

To read your narrow-minded race hating campaign was a 
shock. This is a democracy. It is people like you who are 
leading the way to fascism--the very thing millions of people 
are fighting. 

The opinion you expressed that returning soldiers and 
marines would slit the throats of Japanese if they were to be 
seen on the streets of California is utterly ridiculous. 

Here in Hawaii the Japanese are everywhere. They are 
even permitted in army camps. In town, thousands of service¬ 
men, men who have fought the Japanese, mingle freely with 
them. Not once--and this is important—have I seen or heard 
of any incident of fist fighting or throat-slitting. Here, 
if anywhere, bitterness against the Japanese should be at its 
height. Yet there is only tolerance and benignity. 

We in this company have seen the horrors of war and the 
sufferings of humanity. We have seen violent death come to 
both Americans and Japanese. I have heard my buddies— Amer¬ 
icans all—express time and time again, while gazing upon the 
dead, that they hope there will never be another war after 
this one is over. Yet how can (this) be i f we have race¬ 
baiting fascists fomenting hatred at home. 

From remarks of my friends, it appears that only men who 
have fought Japanese will be able to save Constitutional 
Americanism in California and to preserve decent democracy in 
the country. 

Sincerely, 

WILLIAM LEUNG, 

Sergeant, U. S. Army 


C- 1775-’’ 16-l'U - 


- 17 - 

FROM BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA 

A LETTER TO THE FRESNO STATE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION , FRESNO 
CALIF. 

Dea r Si rs: 

• - '• • ' . * ; s ■ ; '% 

...! read the article which was entitled "Races" and 
appeared in the December 20, 1943, issue of Time Magazine and 
I felt that there were a few things that must be said. 

I, along with many other servicemen here, was filled 
with horror as together we read of the activities of the 
professional flag-waving, super-duper patriots and other 
home-grown Nazis. It seems that in our absence these men are 
taking over and attempting to destroy the high ideals we are 
fighting for. Strangely enough they claim to do this in the 
name of patriotism and anyone of those few brave and clear- 
minded individuals who has the guts to defy them is promptly 
labeled a Communist" be they Republican or Democrat.... 

We servi cemen--those who are across and those .of us who 
are preparing to go across--do not intend to fight this war 
only to lose the peace. The current an t i-Japanese-Ame ri can 
agitation now being sponsored by...and other armchair pur¬ 
veyors of hate is regarded with disgust and horror. 

CdI. Sekiya’s letter in Volume 2, No. I, of the Loyal 
Stater was proof of the things we have long believed, that 
our comrades in arms of Japanese extraction are fighting for 
the same ideals and principles that we are_.You can imag¬ 

ine how we admire the men who are trying to drive them and 
their families PERMANENTLY from their homes. There is noth¬ 
ing so valuable to a soldier as his home and his family. We 
believe that our Jaoanese-American comrades-in-arms are get¬ 
ting the dirtiest deal ever perpetrated on an American 
soldier. What other group of real patriots has fought so 
loyally and gallantly for our country and its great ideals, 
while at home they are being systematically knifed in the 
back? V'hen have any so cheerfully gone to battle and so 
bravely made even the supreme sacrifice and received so lit¬ 
tle gratitude at the hands of their fellow citizens.... 

Americans stand on trial before the world. We must 
prove to the world that we do believe in the ideals we 
preach. Every time there is a race riot, fuel is added to 


r- 1775-P.17-bu 


18 - 


the enemy propaganda machine. The State of California and 
the city of Fresno owes a debt to our Japan ese-Amer i can 
citizens in the service who are paying the price of our 
common freedom with their 1 i ves.... Fresno owes these soldiers 
a monument and not a stab in the back! 

I hope you will forgive me for "blowing my top" in this 
manner, but I, too, look forward to coming back, and when I 
come back, I shall look forward to meeting my Japanese 
American friends of school days at F. S. C. on the streets 
of Fresno as they go hapoily about their tasks as honored 
and respected citizens. I don’t want to see their homes 
broken up and destroyed any more than I would want to have it 
happen to my own. I want those boys to know that we other 
servicemen will back them up in seeing that justice is done. 

Sincerely, 

S. W. W. 

Fresno State Alumnus 


FROM A VETERAN OF SAIPAN 

PUBLISHED IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR 

Waikiki, T. H. 

"Hel-lo," she said. "You’ve been gone a long time. You 
were back on the mainland?" 

"Ho, the other way. Guam." 

She went to the big refrigerator and got the fresh 

eggs. 

"I suppose they don’t feed you very well out there," she 

said. 

"Oh, we get enough food." I picked out three tomatoes 
and a couple of grapefruit. "But no fresh fruit and vegeta- 
bles like this." 

"I will get your bread," she said. And when she came 
back, " I J m glad you’re home safely. Some are not coming 
home any mo re." 


C-1775-Pl8-bu~ 


IS - 



"My husband is not coming home any more." 

She rang up the sale on the casn register. 

"In Italy?" 

"Yes," she said. She smiled up at me. She is very 
small and has a small, round oriental face. Her dark brown 
eyes were bright with the pain of sudden yet familiar remem¬ 
bering. 

That evening, I read in belated issues of the Hew Repub¬ 
lic two articles by Carey McWilliams about race hatred on the 
west coast. According to Mr. McWilliams, there are a number 
of California organizations working for K mass deportation of 
all persons of Japanese ancestry" from the United States. 

I thought of the girl in the Waikiki grocery store. 
Like herself, her husband was a Nisei, and AJA, American of 
Japanese ancestry, as they are called in these islands. He 
died in Italy just as I have seen Americans of other ances¬ 
tries die on the islands of the Pacific. Hawaii has sent many 
AJA f s 8,000 miles away to fight in the European war. Nearly 
every day, the Honolulu papers carry the names of those who 
have been listed as casualties on the Italian front. 

They are fighting and dying to help maintain America’s 
traditional freedoms. Because of sacrifices in which they 
play their full part, the United States is being kept safe 
for organizations like the Home Front Commandos, Inc., of 
Sacramento, to spread poison pamphlets like "Slap the Jap 
Rat" and "No Jap Is Fit to Associate with Human Beings;" for 
certain misguided citizens of Colorado to attempt the passage 
of a state exclusion law; and for Los Angeles paper to falsi¬ 
fy the Pacific war as "the World War, the War of Oriental 
Races against Occidental Races for the Domination of the 
Wo rid. " 


I talked to the girl in the store and read Mr. Me 
Williams’ articles just after returning from the Marianas 
campaign. In the fight for Saipan, Guam, and Tinian, Ameri¬ 
can soldiers and marines killed close to 45,000 Japanese at a 


C- ITTS-PlQ-k’* 1 - 


20 - 


cost to our side of M- T M-70 killed, 20,795 wounded, and 721 
missing. The figures are complete to August 17 

% 

Anyone who has witnessed fanatical stubbornness, the 
the furious fatalism of Japan ese op po s i t i on does not come 
back with any illusions about the necessity for a decisive 
United Nations victory. Nor does he make the mistake of 
lumping Nisei, who have grown up in the free air of democ¬ 
racy, with native Japanese, whose mentalities have been 
fettered by "thought control" and distorted by the lie of 
racial superiority. it is this same lie which certain groups 
are apparently now trying to spread in the United States...." 

"Not coming home any more, "said the girl behind the 
counter and she voiced the unanswerable personal tragedy of 
wa r. 

But it would be a nat i onal--and a wo rl d--t ragedy if the 
race hatred against which we are fighting on foreign fronts 
were to gain significant successes at-home. Then the Nisei 
husbands from Hawaii and a thousand other American husbands, 
brothers, sons and fathers of all racial strains would have 
sacrificed in vain. 

JOHN BEAUFORT 


SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE 

SEPTEMBER 16 , 1944. * 

EDITORS: 

I have a friend of Japanese ancestry and, I say it with 
oride, from the Pacific Coast. 


r 177 5 n20 t'U- 


21 


A pr i son er was taken during the mopp ing up on this island. 
My friend was our interpreter. He learned from this prisoner 
where a nunr.ber of others were hiding; as we approached the 
spot, it was a covered slit trench with a sma 1 1 open i n g at 
each end. After failing to induce those inside to come out, 
our interpreter drew a trench knife, neatly decorated with 
brass knuckles, and crawled through one entrance to the 
trench. The enemy immediately started popping out of the 
other entrance with no desire to fight. From these prisoners 
our interpreter learned of more--but I think what I've told 
is sufficient. Just take it from this G. I. that our inter¬ 
preters have plenty of nerve and their services are invalu- 
abl e. 


4 


GLENN W. M f DONALD 

Co rpo ral 

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